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Home» Event News» SAS 2019»SAS 2019: NAVSEA eyes aircraft-based UUV launch and recovery system
As Unmanned Underwater Vehicles are called to proliferate in a near future, the US Naval Surface Warfare Center’s (NSWC) Panama City Division is now exploring new options easing the UUV launch and recovery phases.
The ASQUID LARS was tested in September 2018 at the Patuxent National River Air Station

SAS 2019: NAVSEA eyes aircraft-based UUV launch and recovery system

As Unmanned Underwater Vehicles are called to proliferate in a near future, the US Naval Surface Warfare Center’s (NSWC) Panama City Division is now exploring new options to ease the UUV launch and recovery phases.

Nathan Gain 13 May 2019

Current delivery methods used by the US military include launching from shore or from small craft.  « Such methods present many limitation, » Tim Currie, Technical Program Manager for Aviation Systems and Mission Package in-Service Engineering Agent, NSWC Panama City Division, said at  the Sea Air & Space 2019 exposition. Therefore, the US Navy requests the ability to launch and recover a UUV from an aircraft platform. According to Currie, LARS integration on aerial platforms would involve numerous benefits, such as UUV battery conservation, mission timeline decrease, and higher sea states deployment and recovery capability. Using such technology would also implicates that UUV base of operation is no longer limited to port locations. 

« This is a challenging concept which must deal with NAVAIR crash loading, aircraft interface, automated docking device development, and winching requirements, » Currie added. Dubbed « Airborne Surface Quad-thruster Underwater Interface Device » (ASQUID), the launch and recovery device being developed by the NSWC is deployed with an existing AN/ALQ-223A Carriage Stream Tow and Recovery System (CSTRS), currently being used with the MH-60S for sensor deployment. 

As Unmanned Underwater Vehicles are called to proliferate in a near future, the US Naval Surface Warfare Center’s (NSWC) Panama City Division is now exploring new options easing the UUV launch and recovery phases.
The ASQUID LARS system seen at Sea Air & Space 2019 exposition

ASQUID is being developed under 219 funding, also called « Naval Innovative Science and Engineering Program » (NISE) program. A prototype, the ASQUID system is currently sized to deploy and recover a Mk-18 Mod 2 Kingfish UUV. 

The ASQUID system is operated by a single air crewman through an « X-box » control device. Once the UUV is unpowered and floating on surface, the crewman maneuvers the ASQUID to front of UUV and drives it onto the unmanned vehicle. The UUV is then locked into place and winched to side of the aircraft. 

A first flight test was successfully performed at Patuxent River National Air Station by the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 2-1 (HX-21) « Blackjack ». The path forward will include sub-surface active docking capability. « Mk-18 Mod 2 teams are now working on various technology for automated docking, » Currie said. The ASQUID project is also to incorporate scalability to accommodate various UUV sizes, the UUV recovery portfolio still being limited by CSTRS and aircraft envelope and power. « But the most challenging development will be for the industry to develop standards for UUV docking features », he concluded. 

NAVSEA NSWC SAS 2019 Sea Air Space US Navy UUV 2019-05-13
Tags NAVSEA NSWC SAS 2019 Sea Air Space US Navy UUV
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Authors

Posted by : Nathan Gain
Nathan is based in Namur, Belgium. He holds an MA in modern history with a minor in international relations from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL – Belgium). Fascinated by military history he naturally turned to the defense sector after graduating and is particularly interested in Northern European and Belgian defense issues as well as in anything related to naval aviation.

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